


Close your eyes

by Ednoncosplay



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 16:03:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/869370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ednoncosplay/pseuds/Ednoncosplay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "What is the worst possible thing that could happen to your character? Have it happen."</p><p>Summary: Jason Todd is forced to hurt the one he loves by the person he hates the most.</p><p>Author’s Note: This is pretty dark. I felt like crying while thinking/writing this. Maybe that’s just because I’m a bitch though. Proceed with caution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close your eyes

Jason woke up in a haze, feeling dizzy and disconnected. He probably would’ve fallen over but something held him up. Looking down, he found himself in a thin mechanical suit painted purple and green. He tried to move, but it was like a form fitting iron maiden on him, not allowing him to budge. Giving up with the struggle for now, he looked around and found himself in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. He’d been in the shadows, and the only light in the room was spotlighting Barbara in her Batgirl outfit.

“Barbara..?” He called out, noticing his throat was dry. How long had they been like this?

“Barbara!” He yelled this time. She stirred awake and groaned in response, shifting on the floor a bit only to find her hands were restrained behind her back. She looked up at him puzzled, looking just as drowsy and confused.

“Jason, where are we?” She asked.

“I don’t know. The last thing I remember was we were chasing down the Joker along the docks.” He said. He tried moving again, but the metal suit wouldn’t let him budge. “I don’t think I can get out of this. Can you do anything on your end?”

“I… can’t seem to move either.” She said as she struggled against her binds. Suddenly a small tv lit up on the other side of the room from them. It started off as static at first, but after a few moments the Joker appeared on screen.

“Ah ah ah, sidekicks. Wouldn’t want you escaping before the fun starts!” He said. “Bird boy, you might be finding it a little difficult to move in that suit, but don’t you worry. You’ll be moving soon enough.”

Suddenly, the metal suit made Jason take a step forward. Joker had to be controlling it from somewhere else, forcing Jason to move with it’s movements. The suit made it’s way over to Barbara who stared into Jason’s eyes with a look of panic.

“I always thought you sidekicks needed a bit more fire, more zest. None of you have ever killed before, and Batman is certainly not gonna train you to do that. So I’ve taken it upon myself to help you cross that bridge. And we’re going to start with Batgirl!” Joker said over the tv before he started laughing. The tv shut off and suddenly the suit started to move again, the arm forcing Jason to pick up a crowbar.

“Barbara…” He started in a warning tone. “I really can’t control this thing, so if you have anything up your sleeve, now is the time..!”

But Barbara couldn’t move. She didn’t have anything but her suit, her utility belt wasn’t even around her. Suddenly the suit jerked Jason’s arm up and then slammed the crowbar into her leg. Barbara let out a shrieking cry as she felt the hard metal break her leg.

“Barbara!” Jason cried out. He furiously struggled against the suit, but it still didn’t budge. Jason was silently cursing himself as he was powerless to do anything but watch as he was forced to beat his friend. This went on, blow after blow, moving upward from her legs all the way up to her collar bones. Eventually Barbara had stopped crying out. Jason was worried she was suffering from internal bleeding at this point.

“Barbara, stay with me! We’ll get out of this somehow. Batman will come get us and he’ll get me out of this suit and we’ll patch you up at home. You’ll be going back to your ballet classes in no time.” He said, sniffing, tears forming at his eyes. “Barbara… Barbara, please! …I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Shhh…” she said weakly. It was hard to talk with a collapsed lung. Her breathing was shallow and labored. “It’s okay, Jason. It’s not you. I know it’s not you. Just… promise me.”

Jason was crying now, feeling completely broken and hopeless.

“Promise me you won’t hate yourself for this.” She said. She gave him a weak smile in an attempt to sooth him, but blood involuntarily escaped from her lips.

“I… I can’t make that promise.” He said. The suit forced him to raise his arm high this time.

“Close your eyes, Jason.” She said weakly. He did, not wanting to look at what he was forced to do by the psycho clown.

“Barbara, I lov—“ the hand came crashing down one last time. Jason listened to the deafening silence. He couldn’t hear her ragged breathing anymore. The only sound that echoed in the room was his whimpering.

He never got to tell her how he really felt, all this time running across the rooftops with her. For the longest time, he was so sure it was more than just a boyish crush, but any time he tried to tell her, it came off as him just being the young, silly, flirtatious Jason. And the pain of that bubbled inside of him, turning into a white hot rage. He screamed at the top of his lungs till his throat was hoarse.

“Jason!” He heard a voice yell out. “Jason!!!” it yelled again.

Jason opened his eyes and saw that it was still dark, but the environment had changed. He was back in the Batcave, in a pair of pajamas laying on a medical bed. Barbara was at his side, holding his hand with a scared look on her face.

“Good lord, you were screaming like a banshee.” She said. “Are you okay? How are you feeling now?”

His heart was racing a mile a minute as he looked around. A dream? How’d he get here? What happened? He was chasing the Joker with Batgirl and… the gas! He remembered the gas now. It was a mix of Joker’s gas with Scarecrow’s fear gas. He was sprayed with it and must have been suffering from a hallucination of some sort.

Barbara squeezed his hand to anchor him back down to reality, reminding him she was still there next to him. He looked at her with relieved eyes as if he were stranded on a desert island for years and finally found rescue. Before she could say anything else, he grabbed her and hugged her in a tight embrace, tears forming at his eyes again.

“I have to tell you something.” He sniffed.


End file.
